Soul-full

Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different—you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

Last month, I wrote a bit about an exercise from The Declaration of You e-course where I asked friends and family what they admired about me, what they felt made me different/awesome. So much of what was shared is relevant to this question, but I want to focus on one friend’s comment in particular:

I think Angelique is awesome because she’s funny, wickedly smart, willing to go out on a limb, has a soul, uses it, isn’t afraid to condemn actions, doesn’t give up on people easily, has a creative streak a mile wide…

There’s a lot of generally kick ass things said about me there, but the thing that gave me great pause was “has a soul, uses it.” Have you ever heard someone jokingly retort, “Hey, I resemble that comment?!” Reading this comment was like an alternate universe version of that…because that comment embodies the very person I want to be. And here, someone who I admire and love, was telling me, “You are already that woman. You are the person you wish to be.”

That’s powerful, beautiful stuff to me. In the context of this prompt, it makes me think of the phrase, “Beauty isn’t skin deep.” No, it’s much deeper than that. Into your core, soul deep. Beautiful.

Reverb 10 is an opportunity to reflect on this year past and manifest forward into 2011. This project involves daily prompts throughout the month of December and you can learn more about it—and join!—here and you can follow participants on Twitter using the #reverb10 hashtag.